Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “currently open”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “currently open”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Linked Open Profiles shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Duplicate Post places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1617 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1660) wp.org #1 2 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.6★ (259) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Open Close Store for WooCommerce – Business Hours & Order Scheduling 600+ · 3.4★ (41) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1483) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (424) wp.org #11 ↑9 6 too low 6 Business Hours Indicator 8K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1012) wp.org #18 ↓1 11 too low 8 Real Media Library: Media Library Folder & File Manager 100K+ · 4.8★ (293) wp.org #12 ↑6 4 too low 9 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3152) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1617) wp.org #22 ↓7 12 too low 11 When Last Login 50K+ · 4.7★ (37) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Catch IDs 20K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too low 13 Hide Categories and Products for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 W WP FullCalendar 8K+ · 4.7★ (96) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #15 ↓2 16 Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Force Refresh 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #17 ↑4 18 UiChemy – Convert Figma, Prompts and AI Builds to Elementor, Gutenberg and Bricks 8K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Open Source Event Calendar 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑2 15 too high 20 Branded Social Images – Open Graph Images with logo and extra text layer 900+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Linked Open Profiles 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓1 17 too high 23 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too high 24 Open Access SSO 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 3 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.